Inhuman is a short film that centers around an overweight teenage girl named Alice who moves to a small town in northern Michigan. Alice doesn’t eat in front of people, look in mirrors, take pictures of herself, show her skin, or go outside in the sun, and her peers assume that this can only be because she is horribly insecure about her body. However, throughout the course of the around 15 minute film, the audience, as well as one of Alice’s few friends, Elliot, discover that she is not some washed-out stereotype — but something much darker.
I decided to write this film because I simply didn’t feel represented in the parts I was playing, or seeing others like myself play. Whether it was on screen, in theater productions, or even in the classical repertoire I was being asked to perform, I always seeing overweight women portrayed as the kooky side character or the matronly widow. I felt that my range as a performer was being underutilized and that my identity was not being represented, and I decided to do something about it. Not just for myself, but for the countless other people who don’t often see themselves portrayed in a meaningful way.
This film, at its core, is about the ability to see someone as more than their appearance. The lead character in this film is a plus-size woman, and throughout the film she is a leading lady in every sense of the word. She is challenging, captivating, heroic, and flawed. This simple choice of having a fat woman who does not hate herself at the center of a film is considered a revolutionary act. It shouldn't be, but it is. In a culture and a community that continues to struggle with issues of body image, fat-shaming, and unrealistic standards of beauty, this choice feels more vital and important than ever.
In the words of faculty mentor and project advocate, Professor Jamien Delp:
“Girls and body image in US culture is not a new conversation, nor is the nation’s infatuation with vampire mythology, but Hayley has found a perspective in this short film that is altogether unique. She is approaching a script that works to turn stereotypes and stigmas upside down while asking some challenging questions about what it means to be human, what it means to be female, what it means to be overweight in a society that prizes model physique, as well as what it might mean to be inhuman.”
In closing, Shonda Rhimes was quoted saying, “You cannot be what you cannot see… It should feel normal when you turn on the television and see people who look like you.” I agree wholeheartedly. And this film is my contribution to the movement.
- Hayley
I decided to write this film because I simply didn’t feel represented in the parts I was playing, or seeing others like myself play. Whether it was on screen, in theater productions, or even in the classical repertoire I was being asked to perform, I always seeing overweight women portrayed as the kooky side character or the matronly widow. I felt that my range as a performer was being underutilized and that my identity was not being represented, and I decided to do something about it. Not just for myself, but for the countless other people who don’t often see themselves portrayed in a meaningful way.
This film, at its core, is about the ability to see someone as more than their appearance. The lead character in this film is a plus-size woman, and throughout the film she is a leading lady in every sense of the word. She is challenging, captivating, heroic, and flawed. This simple choice of having a fat woman who does not hate herself at the center of a film is considered a revolutionary act. It shouldn't be, but it is. In a culture and a community that continues to struggle with issues of body image, fat-shaming, and unrealistic standards of beauty, this choice feels more vital and important than ever.
In the words of faculty mentor and project advocate, Professor Jamien Delp:
“Girls and body image in US culture is not a new conversation, nor is the nation’s infatuation with vampire mythology, but Hayley has found a perspective in this short film that is altogether unique. She is approaching a script that works to turn stereotypes and stigmas upside down while asking some challenging questions about what it means to be human, what it means to be female, what it means to be overweight in a society that prizes model physique, as well as what it might mean to be inhuman.”
In closing, Shonda Rhimes was quoted saying, “You cannot be what you cannot see… It should feel normal when you turn on the television and see people who look like you.” I agree wholeheartedly. And this film is my contribution to the movement.
- Hayley